Poultry News

Groundbreaking Ceremony for New Erber Group Campus

AUSTRIA - Biomin, as part of the Erber Group, began its move to a new campus location in Getzersdorf with a groundbreaking ceremony on 13 November 2013.

The town of Getzersdorf in Austria is set to claim its spot among Austria’s leading innovation centres for agro-biotechnology with the new Erber Group campus.

Situated about 75 kilometres west of Vienna, the township of Getzersdorf will house the new headquarters of the Erber AG. A groundbreaking ceremony on 13 November 2013 marked the start of construction, which is estimated to cost in the range of double-digit million euros.

The new 53,000-square metre headquarters will house the management and administration of the Erber Group and its subsidiaries Biomin Holding, Romer Labs Holding, Sanphar Holding and Bioferm GmbH. The first phase of construction will see the completion of office, meeting and recreational spaces for up to 400 people. A conference and training centre will complete the project.

The four-storey building structure has eight cube-shaped wings branching off a curved central spine and a total of 11,000 square metres of office space. The building design follows the principles of sustainability and optimised life-cycle costs. High insulation capability, groundwater heating and cooling, and heat recovery ventilation have been incorporated in the campus's architectural blueprint for high-performance energy efficiency.

Photovoltaics will supply a large part of the electricity requirements. At only 10kWh per square metre, the energy level of the new headquarters will correspond to the energy consumption of a passive house.

It is the aim that the Erber Group Campus should meet the requirements for a platinum certification under the rating system set by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) of the US Green Building Council (USGBC, US Council for environmentally friendly building). The Erber Group Campus will be Austria‘s first building to be certified with the LEED Platinum rating.

The completion of the new buidling and move from the current premises in Herzogenburg to Getzersdorf are planned for 2015.